Get your bookstart Bear for babies at any Renfrewshire library

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Have you visited your local Health visitor to pick up your Bookstart Pack for babies? If you have, take the voucher inside your pack to any Renfrewshire library and collect a free Bookstart bear for your baby..and

• sign up for baby's first library card
• it's free and we have lots of fun books to borrow
• If your baby has already joined you can still take the voucher along and pick up your free bear.

Bookstart is the national programme that encourages all parents and carers to enjoy books with children from as early an age as possible. We want every child in the UK to develop a lifelong love of books.

• Bookstart gives the gift of free books to children at around eight months, 18 months and three years
• they provide guidance materials for parents and carers
• Bookstart also aims to foster a love of books through a range of fun activities

Bookstart packs are only half of the gift to children and their families. The other, more lasting gift is the message of enjoying books together. Many parents are surprised to learn that babies can benefit from books at such an early age, but research shows that babies and toddlers who love books begin reading sooner and have a better chance at school.

• children learn to talk best in the first five years of their life
• most of a child's language comes from the adults around them
• enjoying books with babies and toddlers increases language skills
• books help children to understand their world

Bookstart is a public and private partnership and benefits from sponsorship from over 20 children’s publishers, Red House Books and central funding from Sure Start (England and Wales) and the Scottish Executive (Scotland). Bookstart brings together over 4,000 libraries, 12,000 health visitors, over 14 publishers and many government, health and library agencies to make sure that every child in the UK develops a lifelong love of reading.